In this post, we look at child drowning. Children experience drowning risks that differ from adults – many children drown because they are curious and unsupervised. Drownings are the leading cause of injury death for young children ages one to 14, and three children die each day from drowning, says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fortunately, there are ways to prevent child drowning.
Keep reading – In this post, we…
- Detail ways to prevent children from accessing the water unsupervised, such as pool fences, pool covers, and removing tempting toys from pools.
- Detail prevention tips for parents, like swimming lessons, encouraging children to jump feet first and staying within arm’s reach at all times.
- Encourage parents to learn lifesaving measures.
Barriers to Entry
Install a fence around your pool. Many states require pool fences, especially for in-ground pools. The fence should have a locking mechanism that cannot be opened by a small child. Above ground pools should have foldable and lockable ladders, but even that may not be enough. The top piece of advice is: know where your children are at all times. Supervise them when outside, and install alarms on any doors that could be opened onto the pool area by small children so you are alerted if they venture out.
When the pool is not in use, remove all tempting toys and floats from the water. Kids are curious and love to play. They may not understand the inherent danger of playing with toys near the pool or climbing on an innocent-looking float until it is too late.
Finally, when pool season is over for the year, install a properly fitted, rigid pool cover that keeps debris out, as well as children and pets that could fall into the pool area.
Child Drowning Prevention
Teaching your kids how to avoid drowning is the best way to keep such a tragic event from happening in the first place. Make sure they know about the dangers of unsupervised swimming and that a caregiver must be watching over them in the pool at all times. They need to know how to swim in the event they do fall into the pool. Enroll them in swimming lessons at the local YMCA or gym, or host them at your own pool with a certified swim instructor.
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-play/Pages/swim-lessons.aspx
Also, encourage your children to jump feet first, especially into water they have never been in before or where they can’t see the bottom, such as a lake. Keep little ones within arm’s reach at all times.
If you do not know CPR, what are you waiting on? Learn it! You could save a life in the time it takes the paramedics to arrive on the scene.
As parents, we should learn lifesaving measures to prevent accidents from happening in our own pools and at pools of neighbors and friends. Make sure the pool area is equipped with life vests and make sure the kids know how to use them. Take a CPR course yourself so you can provide lifesaving techniques to a child before paramedics can arrive.
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One of the best ways to beat the heat and have fun this summer is to go for a swim. Swimming provides excellent exercise and is a vital part of many family vacations and recreational opportunities offered in the summer. However, summer is the time of year when you and your loved ones are most at risk for drowning. According to the